Jerry Edwards started Chef’s Expressions Inc. 30 years ago as a little sandwich shop in Towson with just two employees working for what was then known as Chef’s Express. One day, a client called and asked the company to cater her son’s Christening celebration.

That was the first of many events to follow, including that same son’s graduation from the Naval Academy 21 years later. Since then, the company has grown to more than 15 full-time employees and 120 part-time workers who help cater events for clients the Bozzuto Group, Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, accounting firm Glass Jacobson, Homebuilders Association and the Urban Land Institute.

With $4.25 million in sales, the Timonium caterer is among to top five largest caterers and one of the fastest growing private companies in the Baltimore Business Journal’s Book of Lists. It expects to hit $5 million in sales by 2013. It derives 60 percent of its business from weddings, 30 percent from corporate events and 10 percent from anniversary parties, birthdays and other social gatherings.

Last year, the company moved into a larger space that has space for events and cooking classes.